October 18, 2020
Did you hear that Covid-19 is back, better than ever? Look at this article!
But did you notice that everybody is wearing masks in the streets?
What gives? After months of talks about how masks save lives and stop the spread of The Virus, how to explain today’s numbers?
Did you see Pelosi wearing her mask? Pulling it back up time and again, a mask too big for her face. Large openings on the sides and top. That is a mask for show, for sure, certainly not a mask meant to keep her germs to herself.
And… look at the picture featured in this article!
Doesn’t she know that her mask should fit snugly on her face as to avoid her tiny spit droplets flying all over the place?
Doesn’t she know that she must not touch her mask once she puts it on until she removes it, carefully, using the ear loops, then folding it face out in? Then, if she is smart about it, place that mask in a plastic baggy until ready to be washed, then wash her hands?
Doesn’t she know that every time she puts on her mask, it should be a clean, fresh one? That she should have as many masks as needed as to use a new one Every Single Time she takes off the previous one? Doesn’t she know that masks are one time use only?
How many of us have a couple of masks that we have been using and using again? How many of us have washed our masks maybe a handful of times only… if at all?
How many of us realize that our masks are protecting the others, not us? Masks will contain our spit and whatever virus or bacteria may be in there. They may also, if we have good quality masks, stop most of the tiny droplets that may contain a virus, and that we may have walked through while wearing that mask. But what good does that do if we touch that mask to readjust it constantly, then take it off, place it in our pocket, take it back out, and replace it on our face with hands that have yet to be washed?
How many masks do we own, and are they being daily washed and dried, germs free?
We are told to wear a mask, or we will be fined, or refused service. So, we do. Can we guarantee that our mask is germ free? Can we guarantee that that guy’s mask that we just passed in the supermarket is clean? How long has the cashier worn that mask? And the liquor store clerk just pulled a mask from a jean’s back pocket…
And our co-workers… She has different shoes for each day of the week, different shoes for different slacks or skirts, but only the same 2 masks in 3 months’ time, only 1 mask for the whole day.
It could be a different story if we were wearing disposable masks, a fresh one at each change. But few of us could really afford that. And then, our trash problem would get out of control. And then, medical personnel would, once again, have to re-wear used masks… as happened at the beginning of the quarantine. Even the CDC now says not to wear the medical personnel masks. Not that they do not work. Jut that there are way too many of us, masks take time to come from China, and the best quality ones should go to our health care workers, right?
If the CBS article about the surge of Covid cases is right, we are doing a very lousy job. If anything, we may infect ourselves wearing masks.
Then we have stay at home orders.
Stay at home to avoid getting infected.
I love stories of the black plague, from way back when we humans were half salvages, in good old Europe.
When a case of plague was discovered, the whole city had to close its doors. Nobody in, nobody out. No food brought in, no garbage tossed out. For 40 days. Quarantine is a French word, quarante meaning 40. Same for villages. All one could do was ride it out and hope for a good immunity.
It was, back then, very different. During Covid-19, New Yorkers, as well as quite a few of other big cities’ folks, drove down to Florida, or other less populated areas, to get away from the big bad virus, not thinking nor caring much about potentially bringing with them the virus and infecting the locals.
Covid-19, apparently, requires only a 14-day quarantine. I noticed that these 14 days change from time to time. Not long ago, I heard 10 days were enough. I heard as short as a 7-day quarantine would do. Who knows anymore?
When I worked for a dementia facility, we stocked up on food as we thought that we would be ordered to lock down, and we would have to stay put for 2 weeks. No one in, no one out, no food in, no trash out. We were ready for it and expected that order to come in at any time.
That made sense. And if all of us had been ordered in place for 14 days, with a 24 hours’ notice to empty the shelves of our supermarkets, maybe today, we would be free of Covid. Instead, our governments decided that there was a class of citizens that were “essentials” and had to report to work, and a class of citizens that had to shelter in place.
I always wondered about that. We did not know much about that supposedly ultra-deadly virus then. Was our government deciding who could die, and who could live? I still have a sour taste in my mouth when I think about these decisions made by politicians that, of course, sheltered in place.
Months later, Covid is still here. And the CBC article urges people to take the matter seriously and avoid political rallies.
Today is October 18, 2020. We will soon vote to either re-elect President Trump, or elect Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. as the 46th President of the United States of America.
I have been very much entertained by the big crowds gathering in support of President Trump everywhere he goes, Air Force One always proudly displayed in the background. Love him or hate him, Trump can put up a show! That man has a sense of humor like no one else; makes me laugh and feel good about being an American!
I do not see crowds at the tiny empty venues Biden prefers to deliver his promises. Not that I heard anything concrete about what he is planning to do should we elect him as our next President. Except, of course, his promise to get rid of Trump’s tax cuts.
Coming back to Pelosi… Pelosi talks the talk. But the way she wears her mask, and the way she did not when she got her haircut, makes me question how seriously she takes Covid-19.
The half shutdown ordered by all states that happen to have elected Democrat Governors makes me question how seriously they take the virus… or… were they ready to sentence to death half the population they have in their care?
And now, a surge of Covid, and a plea to stop Trump’s… sorry… political rallies.
In case of contagion, a mask is a baseline protection that we, maybe, should all wear. We should have at least 20 in hands per person. They should all be washed and dried at high temperature to ensure that they are virus and bacteria free. After washing hands, remove from dryer and place in individual resealable plastic bags. Use one time only, place in a common resealable bag for all potentially contaminated masks, wash your hands.
If you do not have a dryer, go back to the good old days, and place your masks in a pot of boiling water for a time. That will guarantee total elimination of any critters that may live in the fabric fibers. But first make sure that your masks are made from a fabric that can handle this kind of treatment.
At the end of the day, wash and dry your masks. Wash your hands after handling your used masks. Wash your hands before handling your clean masks. Remove your masks from the dryer, and place in individual resealable plastic bags. They are now ready for next time use.
Tedious. But if we want to protect the others, and the others choose to protect us, we might all as well do it right.
But if that is too much trouble, too much work, could it be that wearing dirty or contaminated masks is worse than not wearing one at all?
Katrin L.
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